Margot Robbie

When a movie gets bad reviews, it must mean something is wrong with the critics, right? Those darn critics, they don’t like anything!

Ever since WB released the first teaser for Suicide Squad, one thing has been abundantly clear: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is the star of David Ayer’s DC super-villain ensemble piece. But for those unfamiliar with The Joker’s occasional sidekick and love interest, the beautifully bonkers and charmingly crazy villain is a bit of a mystery. To help you out, we’ve created a brief primer for The Dark Knight’s most delightful baddie, revisiting some of the character’s most notable moments and tracing her history from breakout Batman villain to Suicide Squad.

If you liked the scene in Batman v Superman where Bruce Wayne watched YouTube videos about the future members of the Justice League, you'll love Suicide Squad. Instead of just one scene of plot-stopping fan service, Suicide Squad delivers an entire first act of soul-deadening exposition. The movie spends nearly 30 story-free minutes with a Machiavellian bureaucrat while she sits in a restaurant discussing a top secret personnel file. Here is Deadshot, the world’s greatest assassin; this is Harley Quinn, the Joker’s psychotic girlfriend. Oh, and have you heard about Captain Boomerang? And on and on and on.

As this mediocre summer movie season nears an end, there’s a little bit of pressure on Suicide Squad to deliver the goods. The trailers are great, the cast looks fantastic, and we’re even excited about Jared Leto’s Joker — despite that jarring Hot Topic street thug aesthetic. David Ayer’s DC super-villain flick hits theaters next week, and just in case you need a couple of extra reasons to get out and see it, WB has released a new featurette that puts the focus on the film’s practical stunts.

From the moment we got our first look at Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad, it was obvious that her take on Harley Quinn would easily be the best thing about the film. A new extended promo for David Ayer’s super-villain team-up further makes that point clear, as The Joker’s (former?) partner-in-crime takes the spotlight and proves that she’s not at all what she seems.

Yesterday, Entertainment Weekly revealed four new covers featuring the cast of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which has taken over the latest edition of the magazine. As you probably assumed, that was just the tip of the iceberg, as even more new photos have arrived showing off the full rogues gallery (along with Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller) from the highly-anticipated anti-hero team-up.

We are about a month away from the release of Suicide Squad, David Ayer’s devious new DC super-villain team-up that brings The Joker, Harley Quinn, Deadshot and more together in what will hopefully prove to be an antidote to this disappointing summer movie season. If you’re itching for a new look at the Squad, Ayer’s film has taken over the latest edition of EW, which features the cast on four different magazine covers as well as some new info on the highly-anticipated project.

The movie itself may wind up being conventional and boring, but the marketing for Suicide Squad has been delightful and unpredictable right from the start. The trailers, the ads, have all sold the fact that this is not your ordinary superhero movie; these “heroes” are actually villains forced into savior mode by a deal with the U.S. Government. The film’s two new posters are no exception. Even the way the stock credits are displayed is unusual (on top instead of bottom). This Suicide Squad, they don’t play by your rules, man! Not even your advertising rules! They take your rules and they laugh at them, and then maybe Jared Leto sends them a rat or something because he’s really quite Method about this whole Joker thing.

Suicide Squad is one of our most anticipated films of the summer — mostly because after a few months of watching heroes save the world in big blockbusters, it’ll be fun to see a team of villains swoop in to shake things up. If Amanda Waller is to be believed in these new TV spots, these guys (and a couple of ladies) are the worst of the worst, but maybe that’s what we need right now.

Recent news of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn spinoff confirms what we already assumed: she’s the best part of Suicide Squad. But if a new rumor proves to be true, she may not be the only charismatic member of Task Force X, as Warner Bros. might be considering giving a couple of her villainous co-stars spinoffs of their very own. To be honest, a Captain Boomerang solo movie doesn’t seem like something that would ever actually happen, but WB has done wackier things in recent years.